A project to create a Neighbourhood Plans for Handforth, allowing the community to say what they want their priorities to be over the next 15 years has been boosted by a successful grant application.
Handforth Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group (HNPSG) has been awarded over £7000 from My Community/Locality which will be help to minimise further use of parish council funds.
The grant will be used for the printing of a second public questionnaire and the draft neighbourhood plan. It will enable the group to commission further consultancy work and purchase a set of display boards.
HNPSG has also been informed by My Community/Locality that it is eligible to receive a further grant, because the parish is accommodating one of the 14 national garden villages, along with technical support when the draft neighbourhood plan is submitted to Cheshire East Council.
Ashley Comiskey Dawson, Parish Clerk and Secretary of HNPSG, said "It is the intention of HNPSG to take full advantage of such support and thereby to reduce financial input from HPC to an absolute minimum."
In February HNPSG appointed consultants to assist with the process of producing a Neighbourhood Plan, the costs of the consultancy work were covered by Handforth Parish Council and they have funded the production of a comprehensive Planning Policy Assessment and Evidence Base Review. This document is now available for inspection in the office of the parish clerk.
Engagement with the community continues with members of HNPSG having recently attended meetings with the Wilmslow Dean Valley Rotary Club and Handforth business owners. They have also received a number of statements from local societies and interest groups including Cycle Wilmslow, the Friends of Handforth Station, the Friends of Meriton Road Park, the Friends of Stanley Hall Park, Handforth Gardening Society, Handforth Model Engineering Society, the Wilmslow Aid Trust, 1st Handforth Scouts, Rainbow Pre-School Nursery, and the Spath Lane Residents Association.
Ashley said "These will form an important part of the local evidence base and will demonstrate that HNPSG have performed the widest possible local consultation. HNPSG have also had useful discussions with officers of Engine of the North and their consultants re: both on-site and off-site features of the North Cheshire Garden Village."
HNPSG will soon publish a "Neighbourhood Development Plan: Issues and Options" document that will help in the drafting of neighbourhood plan policies.From June 19th to July 1st this document will be made available for public consultation both in the library and online at the neighbourhood plan website www.handforthnplan.org.
Ashley added "Handforth residents are urged to submit answers to questions posed by the "Issues and Options" document – because the answers will be taken into account in preparing policies for the draft neighbourhood plan."
It is hoped that the draft plan will be ready for public inspection in mid-late September.
